


everybody hurts, and don't pretend you're different

by marvelmedigeekfics



Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Nightmares, TW: Dreamt Major Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-16 01:53:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29324262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marvelmedigeekfics/pseuds/marvelmedigeekfics
Summary: Who doesn't have nightmares? Carlos apparently doesn't, but that changes when he hasn't slept in weeks and he bites the bullet with melatonin gummies.
Relationships: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand
Kudos: 66





	everybody hurts, and don't pretend you're different

**Author's Note:**

> emotional comfort. bless. plus i meant this to be a little bit funny, but then it turned into an angst festival. love that.

"Go to sleep, my dear boyfriend. Go to sleep, go to sleep," TK's singing voice wasn't recording studio worthy, but it was music to Carlos' ears. He was exhausted, but he hadn't slept in days. He lay in bed, staring at the wall, flipping the pillows over and over again, and more often than not, letting his mind race. He'd never been an insomniac, but he was beginning to blame stress less and less. TK usually fell asleep in seconds, but tonight he had left their bed in search of something else. He'd tried not to overburden Carlos with remedies to his insomnia, but the 13th night in a row of this kind of problem was getting a little ridiculous. 

So TK returned with melatonin gummies. He held the bottle out to his incredulous and very handsome boyfriend. "No, TK, you know I don't take stuff like this," 

"And after almost two weeks of you getting no sleep, I don't care. Take the damn gummies." TK's unusual bossiness was not helping Carlos feel the mood to sleep. Carlos let his eyebrows raise and give TK a look of invitation. They caught eyes and with a slight shake of his head, TK had Carlos grabbing the bottle from him and swallowing a few gummies vaguely shaped like raspberries. For someone who said puppy dog eyes didn't work on him, Carlos sure did cave to them when it was his boyfriend making them. 

Both of them fell asleep quickly, their bodies as close as possible under the covers. Their soft snores were almost in sync, just a beat off of one anothers'. They looked peaceful, mostly from lack of sleep. TK had a bit of a habit of holding things in his sleep. Sometimes it was the comforter, and other times the pillowcases. Tonight, his hands happened to be resting on Carlos's arm, unconsciously reassuring himself that everything was exactly how it had been when he went to sleep. Everything was silent, save the snores, until Carlos screamed in his sleep. His hands lashed out to pull himself back to reality and he lay there, trying his best to force air into his lungs slowly, calmly, and carefully. 

"Carlos?" TK didn't seem scared, even though he was awoken by a literal terror-filled scream. "Are you okay? What's wrong?" He took Carlos's hands in his, running over his knuckles with his thumbs. 

"Bad dream." Carlos's voice was shakier than TK had ever heard it, but he smiled in the darkness. "Just a dream." 

TK's hands didn't release Carlos's for a long time. He knew better than to force a conversation, but he still attempted to prove his willingness to listen. So stroking the knuckles of his boyfriend would have to do.

It was a while before either of them fell asleep. Carlos fell asleep first, despite his racing mind and deceptively calm heart rate. TK has forced himself to stay awake until Carlos fell asleep, eventually dozing off with Carlos’s head on his chest, their hands cradling each other unconsciously. 

Carlos’s body stiffened sharply a while later, his knees flying up into fetal position, whacking TK on their way up. Carlos began to cry softly, rocking himself back and forth to calm down. TKs eyes flew open before pulling Carlos into his arms. 

“Hey, I’m here, you’re okay. Just a dream. Just a dream.” TK could feel both of their hearts racing almost in sync. Carlos sniffled softly, batting his tears away with the back of his hand. 

“I’m sorry, I woke you up again,” Carlos said, his emotion bleeding into his speech. TK wiped the leftover tears away with his thumb. 

“You didn’t wake me up.” 

“You always have been an awful liar.” Carlos smiled wryly. Sadly. Tears spilled out one at a time from his eyes, dropping onto TK’s forearms like puddles. 

“Psh.” 

There was a patch of silence, Carlos looking at TK with sad eyes. Every part of him looked sad, to be completely honest. 

The space between them closed with Carlos’s headmoving to rest on Tks chest. “I dreamt I lost you.” Carlos didn’t think TK would hear his barely audible whisper. “Felt your heart stop. And I. I..I lost you.” Tears began to fall and neither one made a move to wipe them away. “And I couldn’t save you.” 

TKs breath hitched a bit in his throat, and he thought he might begin to cry as well. “As long as I am breathing, you will never lose me. I will promise you that.”

As close as the two already were, TK pulled Carlos a little closer and pressed a kiss to his hair. 

“I love you.” The three words were whispered by both TK and Carlos at the same time for the first time. 

“I love you too.” It was easy. Like they’d been saying it to each other their whole lives, just as natural as breathing. 

From that night on, melatonin gummies were off limits for both of them. But the late night affirmations were not, and were a frequent occurrence more often than not. 

—


End file.
